Principles of Shared Governance Revisited

A basic tenet of higher education has always included principles of shared governance. We believe that shared governance must be more than a catchphrase with different meanings to different people. After many discussions with our colleagues, we were struck with the overwhelming thought that relatively little is known about what full-time faculty perceive as shared governance. Therefore, we surveyed all full-time faculty members from two universities. The four-page survey was designed to elicit responses on perceptions and principles of shared governance (28 true/false questions). For those statements indicated as true, the respondents were asked to signify the level of importance attached to each statement. The survey also asked respondents to indicate, in rank order, the five most important qualities of shared governance.

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